Table of Contents
Advertisement
6. REGIONAL CODES
What are "regional codes"?
Motion picture studios want to control the home release of movies in different countries because theater releases arenít
simultaneous (a movie may come out on DVD in the US when itís just hitting screens in Europe). Therefore they have
required that the DVD standard include codes which can be used to lock out the playback of certain discs in certain geo-
graphical regions. Players sold in each region will have that regionís code built into the player. The player will refuse to play
these "region coded" discs which are not allowed in the region. However, regional codes are entirely optional. Discs without
codes will play on any player in any country. Some studios have already announced that only their new releases will have
regional codes. There are six regions:
1. United States and Canada
2. Europe and Japan
3. Far East (except Japan & China)
4. South America and Oceania
5. Africa and the Middle East
6. China (except Hong Kong)
1
4
Map of DVD Regions
5
2
5
2
6
6
2
3
4
Advertisement
Table of Contents
